The invention relates to a method for handling a motorized floor truck, the truck comprised of a lifting carriage and a support carriage, wherewith the lifting carriage includes load accommodation means which are raisable and lowerable, further said lifting and support carriages are operable as vehicles mutually independently, wherewith by operating said carriages cooperatively one can effect alternate supporting and raising of said elements of said floor truck to a deposit level which is higher than the floor level, and wherewith carriage members of said carriages can be driven into positions underneath at least the end region of receiving surfaces on said deposit level. The invention further relates to a motorized floor truck comprised of a lifting carriage and a support carriage, for carrying out the method of alternate supporting and raising.
The problem of raising a motorized floor truck to levels above that of floor level is a frequently encountered one, which is of particular significance when goods are being transported on a highway truck and no appropriate motorized floor trucks are available at the unloading or loading sites. In order to be able to unload the highway truck with its loading surface disposed above floor level, a lift truck or the like is needed, and this is generally unavailable at the unloading site. From this standpoint, so-called "carry-along" system have been developed wherein a lifting carriage with a dual-action lifting cylinder is attached to the highway truck. In very simple embodiments of this, the lifting carriage with raised load-accommodation means runs under the rear end of the chassis of the highway truck, and the load-accommodation means engages a receiving mechanism in or on the highway truck and may be attached thereto. Then, by a subsequent "lowering of the load-accommodation means", the lower part of the lifting carriage is raised up and comes into contact (from underneath) with the structure of the highway truck. With such a system, clearly one must provide special devices which are suitable for attaching the motorized floor truck which is now linked to the highway truck and transportable by same.
German OS No. 25 30 634 discloses a motorized floor truck comprised of a lifting carriage with a dual-action cylinder by which cylinder the load-accommodation means can be raised and lowered, and for which truck a support or bracing device is provided. In order to transport the lifting carriage on a highway truck, the lifting carriage is moved to the rear end of the highway truck with its load-accommodation means raised, and the forward end of the load accommodation mean is lowered to the loading level of the highway truck. After affixing supports or lowering previously affixed supports, the undercarriage of the lifting carriage can then be raised to the level of the highway truck with the aid of the just-engaged load accommodation means. In connection with this reference there are two embodiments: In the first embodiment, the support is provided by the horizontal piece, e.g., a platform or crossbar which accommodates the load accommodation means and in which the load accommodation means can be moved back and forth. In the second embodiment, the support is provided by rollers. In both cases, once the lifting carriage is raised up to the highway truck, it can be slid either (a) on the crosspieces of the supports or (b) along with the rollable supports on the loading level of the highway truck. Subsequently, the supports may be removed, retracted, swung up, or the like. The highway truck can then be driven to the next loading or unloading site with the lifting carriage loaded on its (the highway truck's) load surface, and with the supports. With the general technique described above for raising the lifting carriage, there is the inconvenience that the support device or parts thereof must be raised manually.